Airborne jumping castle injures two boys

Two young boys were seriously injured after a bouncy castle they were playing in flew metres into the air and tossed them to the concrete below.

Three young children were playing in the the inflatable "bounce house" in the United States when a gust flung it into the air, poststar.com reported.

Two boys, aged 5 and 6, dropped out of the structure from a height of about five metres.

Bouncy castle in flight over New York State. Photo: Courtesy: Emily Boucher

One suffered a traumatic head injury, officials said.

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The other occupant, a 10-year-old girl escaped with just minor scrapes when she fell, according to her mother.

The boys were taken to a local hospital in South Glens Falls, New York, where they were admitted for serious injuries.

Taylor Seymour, a resident of the apartment building where the accident occurred, said the wind picked the structure up and spun it around as if it was in a small tornado.

One boy was thrown 10m from the structure to the footpath, while the other about 5m in the other direction, landing on the back of Seymour's car.

The bouncy castle was at least 5m off the ground when the boys flew out, she said.

"It was like a horror movie.

"It just kept going up and up. It cleared our building and the trees."

South Glens Falls police patrolman David Gifford said the one who landed on the footpath was conscious and talking at the scene.

A neighbour said the younger boy suffered two broken arms and facial injuries, while the older boy suffered a serious head injury.

South Glens Falls student Emily Boucher took a picture of the toy as it flew through the air.

The mother of the 10-year-old girl said her child was near the bouncy castle's door and was tossed out as it lifted off the ground, but the two other children were not as fortunate and were higher off the ground when they fell.

"My older daughters witnessed it and said it was just horrible.

"A big gust of wind just blew it right off the ground with the kids in it. It's just sickening."

The bouncy castle was owned by a resident of the complex, and it had been set up for neighbourhood children.

Gifford and the mother of the girl said it was fixed to the ground with stakes, but the wind pulled them out.

"The witnesses said it was a sudden burst of wind and it just lifted off the ground," Gifford said.